Academy President addresses last year’s Will Smith “slap” incident: “Our organization’s response was inadequate.

Last Updated on 02/15/2023 by てんしょく飯

The 95th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 12. Ahead of the ceremony on March 12 (local time), Janet Yang, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, reflected on the “slapping” incident of Will Smith last year.

An unprecedented “incident” occurred at last year’s 94th Academy Awards ceremony.

When comedian and actor Chris Rock took the stage as a presenter, he made a joke about Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle, which infuriated Will. Will went on stage and slapped Chris, and even though the event was being broadcast live, he used a banned term, which became a major issue. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, however, did little in response to the slap.

Then on Monday, February 13 local time, the Academy Awards nominees luncheon was held. At this gathering, which included Tom Cruise, Angela Bassett, Cate Blanchett, and Steven Spielberg, Academy President Janet Yang did not mention Chris or Will by name, but she did say, “You all remember that we had an unprecedented event at the Academy Awards. I think you remember,” she began. She continued, “What happened on stage was completely unacceptable, and our organization’s response was inadequate.”

This incident has taught us that the Academy must be completely transparent and accountable in our actions,” he added.

Will, on the other hand, in his first interview since the debacle, said, “As you can imagine, it was a horrible night,” “At the end of the day, I felt like I ‘lost it,'” and “I’m not justifying my actions at all. I don’t mean to justify my actions at all.